Pages

Monday, January 25, 2010

It took us a week to get up off our rear ends and into the mountains. And then it was a drive of fifteen minutes and three traffic lights before we pulled into the busy Sunday parking area at Silvermine on the west side of Ou Kaapse Weg (the east side has a lot of other walks). I had never hiked high enough to look down onto Hout Bay, on the other side of the peninsula, and this route promised lots of flowers. You can see our hike here, thanks to Vince's GPS and Garmin Connect.

Checklist for hiking:

We told someone where we were going
Factor 50 sunscreen
Water
Lunch
Cameras
Good shoes
Map (Silvermine)

We didn't take warm jackets, which was stupid as the weather changes very fast in the mountains. Warm temperatures below mean little. By the time we finished the path behind us was shrouded in cold cloud. Even stopping for lunch for 15 minutes chilled me, as we were facing the wind.

Above, on the dirt road leading away from the Silvermine Reservoir (packed with families in the water and picnicking), I saw Something New. Lyn McCallum and Marijke Honig have agreed that it is probably Aristea africana, but we await expert confirmation. Brilliantly blue, growing about 7" high in bone dry soil.

In amongst the green of varied fynbos we kept coming upon patches of colour and miniature gardens. Here a Helichrysum, possibly dasyanthum, but not growing where books say it should, which is near the sea.

Below, Pseudoselago serrata occured frequently, and looks as though it would be at home in a well-behaved perennial border.

Rounding a corner, we left the reservoir and the people behind and started to catch glimpses of the views to come.

Tall, puffy Hermas villosa.

Spectacular and impossible-to-miss Crassula coccinea. An easy and rewarding plant with which to test one's ID skills.

Pinecone-like Leucadendrons, but which kind? Their new foliage seems red. En masse, in the wind, these beautiful shrubs make the landscape undulate like a richly furred animal pelt

Vygies - Mesembryanthemum, another flower whose identification eludes me: there are so many. And so many are pink...

Below, (over exposed) Gnidia tomentosa - perhaps scented at night, like some of its kin.

I thought that identifying this white erica would be a cinch. It was everywhere. Erica mammosa is a candidate - it varies from red to pink to white.

Brunia alopecuroides, with its mini pinecones.

At our first lookout point we could see both sides of the long curved Cape Peninsula. To Vince's left, False Bay.

To his right, Noordhoek.

While he took pictures, I poked around the rocky outcrop. In one of the typical bowls formed in the porous rocks, I found some scat.

Was this a kitty litter tray al fresco? Fur and insect exoskeletons...

In the shade of another rock I found a thin film of cold, clear, clean water.

And on these, evidence of clean air. Lots of lichen.

Back on the path, a butterfly posed conveniently on the red crassula. It is Meneris tulbaghia, known as the Pride of Table Mountain.

"If it were to disappear, several plant species that depend exclusively on the mountain pride for pollination would face extinction. Other than Disa uniflora these include the cluster disa Disa ferruginea, the nerine or Guernsey lily Nerine sarniensis, and the red crassula, Crassula coccinea. All have one feature in common: red flowers."

Our path branched left to the lookout point at Noordhoek Peak, where we wanted to stop for lunch.

Roella triflora grew between the stones.

And so did this mystery. Each tiny flower hung pendulously on a threadlike stem...

Behind the cairn on the peak, another Watsonia tabularis. They had been dotted about all the way here, so that it was possible to take their beauty for granted.

This one had a visitor. Click on the picture for a larger view and see what he had for lunch...

A few more steps, and the pay-off for the hike up. Straight down to Hout Bay.

The wind was quite cold here, but the rocks were warm.

After looking at it all for a long time we moved around to the sheltered side and ate our delicious beef pies from the Porter Estate Produce Market, cheese sandwiches, droewors, and Ceres fruit juice. And contemplated the route ahead.

The map warned of a difficult spot for those afraid of heights (moi moi moi) and said danger, but Vince thought the contours on the map didn't look too scary.

So far, so good.

I recognized Erica cerinthoides, which has distinctly hairy flowers.

Below, top left is where we'd come from, Noordhoek Peak.

Below us to the left lay the Hoerikwaggo Trail, a six day, five night hike from near Cape Point to Table Mountain. You can book for a one, two or three night stay on the trail at the moment. Food and overnight gear are transported to your overnight camps.

And ahead of us lay our path, straight up. I'd been nervous on a previous scrambling bit, and so Vince decided to head into the fynbos to follow a ridge and gradually join the next one. We stuck to the rocks as much as possible, to avoid squashing flora.

This detour found many gardens in the rocks.

...as well as beautiful rock shelters and formations. I thought about snakes a bit.

Below, Corymbium africanum.

And at this elevation, we saw repeatedly an erica I'd never seen before. Its habit made it easy to identify: it was always wrapped over or around a rock. Erica nevillei.

Below and behind us, Chapman's Peak Drive. Protea cynaroides, or king protea, and South Africa's national flower, in bud in the foreground.

After a steep descent, with a steeper ascent to the Constantiaberg ahead of us, we (OK, I) called it quits and turned right, heading back towards the reservoir at Silvermine.

On this white, apparently erosion-prone track, I found a little pink erica growing in pure sand.

Pink jewels.

These fat lobelias on long, thin stems had also followed us all the way from the start: Lobelia coronopifolia.

My favourite, Pelargonium myrrhifolium.

And a last stand of watsonias.

Having walked the Skyline or Panorama Path, we'd not doubled back to do the slightly lower but almost parallel Amphitheatre Path. It is apparently very good for flowers, so we will return.

Two swimmers were doing laps in the 350 m long reservoir as we walked past. Today Marijke told me that she was the one doing backstroke.

She says, "The colour and feel of the water is difficult to describe - amber bubbles with each stroke, and after a while that lovely tanniny taste of fynbos water."

Marie, thank you for posting your beautiful flower photos! The variety and color are amazing, rivaling the most prized gemstones. I hope you get to spend many happy hours visiting them while you are there. Maybe even find an SA catnip variety for Estorbo?

I love your blog. Only you can make a trail in the mountains be as suspenseful as a climb in the Himalayas. I was mesmerized, dying to know which one would be the next flower you would discover. Loved it. And cheddar cheese rocks! Please keep posting!!!!

About Pseudoselago serrata - Annie's Annuals has for several years sold something called Selago serrata. Could it be the same thing? I tried it two summers in a row in my Carroll Gardens garden, but it never looked quite prosperous. The second time I had it in a container, with the notion I could keep it drier thinking that an SA native would like that. It did bloom, but never looked as gorgeously packed with flowerheads and butterflies as in the pics on Annie's website. If you ever try this plant please post tips on keeping it happy, even if only as an annual.

dinahmow - I had to look that up. I see the resemblance...I'll let you know.

Poor m.heart - I'm so sorry. Snuggle up.

jvdh - weet jy, ek was nog nie daar nie? Ooit??! Ons is op pad.

flwrjane - I thought that, too, when I saw some flowers in the Pacific NW.

BV - I was quite tired afterwards in a very nice way, but it wasn't too far...just lots of ups and downs. How's the doll?

Klaus, that's really interesting! They are selling it under the old name. But I did not know it had been 'tamed'. Naturally, it grows in super-sandy, dry but slightly acidic soil. I'll have to try it in the Cobble Hill garden :-)

And thank you, Lyn. I really can't wait to go back. Vince went up Platteklip this afternoon and RAN over the mountain to my parents' house.

What a fabulous post! I loved every photo and every view. I miss not being able to hike like that any more. Do it all you can while you can. I have been known to hike 26 miles in one day, but I won't tell you how many years ago that was! Hate to drag you away, but Estorbo is pining for you.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For all these wonderful pictures and lovely places to think about. It does seem like there is a lot of pink there. Funny! On my mountain, all the little tiny wildflowers seem to be yellow.

What a lovely post - I could smell the fynbos and feel the sun-warmed rocks. What a spectatular view of Hout Bay! And how much I loved the pink ericas and the Watsonias. I was with you in spirit in the scary scrambling bit - I don't like heights or scrambling... And my husband would probaby NOT have taken an alternative route but told me I was worried for nothing and forged ahead... yikes!

Hello again. I have to say that the more I search for photographs of South African flora, the more the idea of a trip to the country strikes me as a good one. You have some beautiful photos on this post (as usual), thank you for sharing them.

I was looking around Google for a photo of the "wild watsonia" mentioned by Paton in Cry the Beloved Country (first page of Chapter 3). The reference comes during umfundisi's rail journey from Ixopo to Johannesburg. On the web I read about the genus Watsonia and the 56 or so species presently identified. Some look quite different from one another. Do you think the soft, purple variety Watsonia canaliculata from Kwazulu-Natal midlands would be closer to what Paton was describing than the brilliant red-orange one you have photographed here?

On a side note, I enjoyed your observation of the footballers. Behavior in that year's contest was so atrocious that the children should have played each match instead to set an example for the pros.

Cape Town

Reasons to Dogear a Page

We have art, Nietzsche said, so that we shall not be destroyed by the truth.

Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero

How will we know it's us without our past?

...How'll it be not to know what land's outside the door? How if you wake up in the night and know - and know the willow tree's not there? Can you live without the willow tree? Well, no, you can't. The willow tree is you.

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.

Necessity knows no magic formulae - they are all left to chance. If a love is to be unforgettable, fortuities must immediately start fluttering down to it like birds to Francis of Assissi's shoulders.

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I equate happiness with contentment, and contentment with complacency, and complacency with impending disaster.

Afterwards in the street, she looks around the neighborhood. "Yes, it is certified now."

She refers to a phenomenon of moviegoing which I have called certification. Nowadays when a person lives somewhere, in a neighborhood, the place is not certified for him. More than likely he will live there sadly and the emptiness which is inside him will expand until it evacuates the entire neighborhood. But if he sees a movie which shows his very neighborhood, it becomes possible for him to live, for a time at least, as a person who is Somewhere and not Anywhere."

The Moviegoer, Walker Percy

The garden paths were lit by coloured lamps, as is the custom in Italy, and the supper table was laden with candles and flowers, as is the custom in all countries where they understand how to dress a table, which when properly done is the rarest of all luxuries.

Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts - just mere thoughts - are as powerful as electric batteries, as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison.

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.

George Eliot, Middlemarch

(Mrs Cadwallader to Dorothea)

"I know it's a great temptation to go mad, but don't go in for it, you wouldn't like it."

George Eliot, Middlemarch

"A is for dining Alone...and so am I, if a choice must be made between most people I know and myself. This misanthropic attitude is one I am not proud of, but it is firmly there, based on my ever-increasing conviction that sharing food with another human being is an act that should not be indulged in lightly."

MFK Fisher, The Art of Eating

What he loved in horses was what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran with them. All his reverence and all his fondness and all the leanings of his life were for the ardenthearted and they would always be so and never be otherwise.

Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

I was planning on writing about a woman for 50 years. I will never be competent enough to do so, but at some point you have to try.

Richard Chaston (1620-1695). Chaston wrote that men and fairies both contain within them a faculty of reason and a faculty of magic. In men reason is strong and magic is weak. With fairies it is the other way round: magic comes very naturally to them, but by human standards they are barely sane.

Susanna Clark, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

No method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert. What is a course of history or philosophy, or poetry, no matter how well selected, or the best society, or the most admirable routine of life compared with the discipline of looking always at what is to be seen?